Kenyan police suspected of helping alleged ‘psychopathic serial killer’ Collins Jumaisi escape from prison
Nairobi — Five Kenyan police officers appeared in court Wednesday on suspicion of helping a man accused of killing and dismembering dozens of women escape from a Nairobi prison cell. Police launched a manhunt Tuesday after suspected serial killer Collins Jumaisi and 12 Eritreans escaped from a police station in an upscale neighborhood of the Kenyan capital.
Jumaisi, 33, was described by police as a “psychopathic serial killer with no regard for human life” when he was arrested. arrested last month after the gruesome discovery of a number of mutilated bodies in a dump in a slum in the Kenyan capital.
He and the other inmates appear to have escaped by cutting through a fence on the station’s roof.
“Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was facilitated by insiders,” acting national police chief Gilbert Masengeli said on Tuesday.
Kenya National Police/Criminal Investigations Directorate
Five of the eight officers arrested in connection with the escape appeared in a Nairobi court on Wednesday, with police seeking a detention order for an additional 14 days to complete their investigation.
Police said they discovered the escape while officers were conducting a routine cell visit around 5 a.m. Tuesday to serve breakfast to prisoners.
“When they opened the cell door, they discovered that 13 prisoners had escaped by cutting the fence of the rest room,” police said in a statement, referring to a covered courtyard at the police station where inmates could have access to fresh air.
The 12 Eritreans were arrested for illegal stay in Kenya, police said, adding that four other detainees who failed to escape were assisting in the investigation.
The police station is located in the Gigiri district which houses the regional headquarters of the United Nations and many embassies.
Police said after Jumaisi’s arrest on July 15 that he confessed to murdering 42 women over a two-year period starting in 2022, with his wife being his first victim.
Kenya National Police/Criminal Investigations Directorate
Jumaisi claimed he was assaulted and tortured, his lawyer told AFP last month.
This is the second time in just six months that a suspect in a high-profile case has escaped from police custody.
Kenyan national Kevin Kangethe, accused of murdering his girlfriend in the United States last year and leaving her body in an airport parking lot, fled from a police station in February before being arrested about a week later, a judge said. ordered his extradition back in the USA at the beginning of August.
